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Chris Johnson and Bud Reiff will present on a behavior-based freight model being used at Oregon Metro. This model will replace Metro’s current truck model with a hybrid freight model that both represents multi-modal freight flows through elements of national and regional supply chains and simulates the movement of individual trucks and shipments on local networks. Model estimation and calibration will also require collection of behavioral data from shippers and receivers representing a wide range of industries, common and contract freight carriers, business that operate non-freight commercial vehicles, warehouse managers, and logistics agents.

Key project objectives:

• Develop tools to enable a more comprehensive analysis of infrastructure needs and policy choices pertaining to the movements of goods. 
• Develop more detailed network assignments by truck type, which support regional environmental analysis, as well as local traffic operations and engineering analysis.
• Develop freight forecasts that are responsive to changes in economic forecasts, changing growth rates among industrial sectors, and changing rates of economic exchange and commodity flows between sectors.
• Replace trip-based truck model with more realistic tour-based model.

Chris Johnson is currently the manager of Metro's Modeling Services Division. He has over 23 years of experience working with travel demand models. Prior to joining Metro, Chris worked for the Puget Sound Regional Council, HNTB Corporation, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Madison, WI. Bud Reiff is a principal researcher and modeler at Metro.